2023-11-15 18:05:00
For months, the government has been repeating it: EDF will have to boost its nuclear electricity production by 2030, otherwise prices will remain permanently high in France. But how to proceed, when the new reactors wanted by Emmanuel Macron will not see the light of day before 2035, at best? Until then, we will actually have to rely on the existing fleet, optimizing its performance, which is currently catastrophic. And for good reason, in 2022, it barely generated 279 terawatt hours (TWh), a figure down 30% compared to the average of the last twenty years. The goal now is to go “ look for 100 TWh more », Underlined in April the government, which even plans to set an efficiency objective on which part of the remuneration of the group’s managers will depend.
Enough to give a boost internally. This Wednesday, November 15, EDF presented a progress update on its program for “ improve the performance of unit outages », called START 2025 and launched in 2019, of which 80% of the solutions are now “ deployed ”, according to the company. While around forty reactor shutdowns are planned each year (out of a total of 56), to reload fuel, carry out checks or even change certain parts, the idea is to improve the management of these interruptions, sometimes too long and poorly organized. And this, by modifying the management and the organization of dedicated teams, or by providing more training and standardization for certain maintenance actions.
70% success on the first milestone, compared to 10% in 2021
However, the first results are encouraging. On the first key milestone, i.e. the initial phase of the shutdown (when the reactor is disconnected from the network, the vessel opened and the first fuel element removed), the success rate within the allotted time frame s now stands at 70%, EDF said on Wednesday. Against a percentage of less than 10% in 2021…and 42 failures out of 43 in 2019!
« When you start with a victory, […] It completely changes your mindset! », underlines Etienne Dutheil, director of the Nuclear Production Division.
The process has in fact been shortened, since it saved 48 hours compared to last year on 1,300 megawatt (MW) installations (like Cattenom or Golfech), and a dozen hours on those of 900 MW ( like Chinon).
Furthermore, in recently shut down power plants, EDF now displays historic records in terms of the duration of closures. “ The partial visit to Paluel, in Normandy [qui a consisté à recharger le combustible et réaliser des opérations de maintenance, ndlr] spanned 100 days […] We went back to 2011, and we did not find a single partial visit of less than 100 days for this plant », welcomed Etienne Dutheil on Wednesday. Same thing in Saint-Laurent, in Center-Val-de-Loire, where a refueling lasted 40 days, i.e. “ the shortest in eight years “. Overall, moreover, outage extensions have been reduced by a third compared to 2022, according to EDF.
Outside of these downtime periods, the number of unplanned days of downtime also fell in 2022 and 2023, with a percentage of interruption ” fortuitous » less than 3.5%. That is more than before 2017, but less than what has been observed in recent years (up to 5% in 2020). Overall, availability is also better than in 2022, with 5 to 10 additional gigawatts (GW). So much so that at present, “ 35 reactors operate, providing 37 GW “, against ” 30 reactors providing 31 GW » at the same period last year, underlined EDF.
« We imported the equivalent of 3 to 6 GW, today we export 3 to 13 GW; the situation is completely different », insisted Etienne Dutheil.
A favorable context which allows EDF to confirm its production forecasts: 300 to 330 TWh in 2023, 315 to 345 TWh in 2024, and 335 to 365 TWh in 2025.
Lack of ambition?
But these objectives remain insufficient, believe some observers. “ We were at 380-400 TWh a handful of years ago. In 2019, EDF still produced 380 TWh of nuclear electricity! Today, we are told that the impact of Covid is almost over, and that the problem of stress corrosion will soon be behind us », Points out a nuclear safety engineer who requested anonymity.
Indeed, the Covid-19 health crisis had led the energy company to thoroughly review the planning of its unit interruptions. “ We had to endure a very sharp reduction in consumption, which delayed the shutdowns, since fuel had to be consumed [avant de le recharger] », recalled Etienne Dutheuil on Wednesday. Another unforeseen event was added, which explains the historic unavailability of the fleet in 2022: stress corrosion identified in several reactors at the end of 2021, having pushed EDF to control all of its installations, and to replace several important parts. Gold, ” from 2025, it is certain that there will no longer be any effects linked to this stress corrosion “, we say at EDF. “ In these conditions, why are we not talking about a return to 400 TWh from 2025? », asks the above-mentioned engineer.
Ten-year visits 6 times more demanding
However, EDF must face another phenomenon, which probably explains, at least in part, such low ranges: for several years, it has had to carry out more and more checks and maintenance. And therefore, mechanically, plan for longer stops. Because to extend the reactors as much as possible, as wanted by Emmanuel Macron, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) asked him to ensure that they reach a level of safety as close as possible to those of third generation.
« This requires adding and modifying a lot of material. For the fourth ten-year visit [l’opération de grande ampleur réalisée tous les dix ans pour vérifier et mettre à niveau les centrales, ndlr], there was 6 times the volume of activity than in previous periodic reviews. We have completely changed scale », we note at EDF.
« With the Fukushima accident and the question of reactor extensions, we are seeing a surge in safety ambitions. But also the pretensions of EDF, which tends to be maximalist. In this context, will the fifth ten-yearly inspection still be six times more demanding than the fourth, despite the impact on production? », says an expert in the sector. Especially since certain maintenance operations include critical moments, during which a significant delay can accumulate. Like the replacement of the steam generator, which collapsed on one of the Paluel reactors in 2016, leading to two additional years of shutdown.
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